Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.
A/N: Thanks a million to popppincorn! I'd forgotten that little detail.
Chapter 11
They reached Gryffindor Tower without any problems, unless you counted Lily nearly screeching when a mouse ran past them. With Lily checking the map at strategic intervals, they managed to avoid both Filch and Mrs. Norris.
They reached the portrait hole and Lily gave the password. They scrambled through; Harry with a little difficulty owing to the fact that James was leaning heavily against him. He guided James to an armchair near the fire and collapsed beside it.
"You're really heavy, you know that?" Harry panted.
James didn't answer; his face was getting paler by the second. Lily dropped the map hastily then stood up.
"Where are you going?" Harry called after her.
"I'm going to get my first aid kit." Lily replied, dashing up the stairs to her dormitory.
Harry and James remained quiet as they waited for Lily to return.
Lily came back, moments later, carrying a small, white case with a red cross on the lid.
"What's that?" James questioned, breaking the silence. Harry grew slightly alarmed, James's voice sounded weak.
"My mum made me bring it. It's a Muggle kit for keeping bandages, medicine, and other stuff for medical use." Lily explained patiently as she opened the case.
"So," she said, as she took out some bandages, "Where did you get that map?" she tilted her head at the map on the floor.
"Made it ourselves." James said proudly, wincing as Lily removed the cloth that James was holding against his cuts.
"It's brilliant." Lily commented. "But there's something I don't understand. The map shows Harry as 'Harry Potter'."
At his mother's comment, Harry's eyes darted to the map which, sure enough, showed 'Harry Potter' right next to 'James Potter' and 'Lily Evans'. He had forgotten that the Marauders' Map revealed true names! Feeling his parents' eyes on him, he forced a look of surprise on his face.
"That's odd." James said, looking at the map as well. "Hmm…probably malfunctioning. I'll have to take a look at it in the morning."
Harry, who hadn't realized that he was holding his breath, let it out feeling relieved. He was safe. His father thought the map wasn't working properly. But now it meant that he had to leave as soon as possible, before they realized that the map was in perfect order and would start asking him questions.
"You both seem to be doing fine without me, so I'll just go to bed now." Harry said under his breath, eager to escape.
"Hold on. You still haven't told me what you were doing in the grounds tonight." James said.
Harry did some quick thinking. He obviously couldn't say that he was spying on them. "I woke up, found you're beds empty and went to look out the window. That's when I saw Lily down there, heading toward the Willow." He said quickly.
"Oh. And what were you doing down there?" James asked Lily.
"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you." Lily said, giving him a look.
"I asked first." James reminded her.
"I was reading a book by the fire and I guess I must have dozed off a bit." Lily related. "I suppose you didn't see me. I woke up when the portrait hole opened and I heard someone saying something about the 'Willow'. I thought it was some first years doing a dare, you know, to see how far they could go without getting hit by the tree? I guess I was wrong."
"So you went to stop us?" James asked.
"Yes, as Head Girl I thought that it was the right thing to do." Lily said, reaching into her pocket for a handkerchief. She pointed her wand at it and muttered a spell under her breath. Water came out of her wand and soaked the cloth.
Harry looked between the two of them. They didn't need him. Maybe he should just leave them alone. Together.
"Well, I'm really sleepy." Harry said, giving a huge yawn. "I'll just go up to bed now. I'm not really helping here."
And before Lily and James could say a word, he jumped up and ran all the way to the boys' dormitories.
"He's acting very peculiar." James said suspiciously when Harry left. "I think he's not telling us something."
Lily nodded. She then looked at James, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"Err…you're going to have to take off you're robes." Lily said quietly, feeling embarrassed. "So I can dress you're wounds properly." She added quickly.
James couldn't hide a grin as he carefully shrugged off his torn robes and pulled the shredded t-shirt he was wearing over his head, grunting when the fabric brushed against his cuts.
His wounds looked even more dreadful up close. Lily's expression was serious as she surveyed them.
"So what were you doing down there?" Lily asked. She started cleaning the dried blood from James's chest with the wet hankie, avoiding touching James's skin with her bare hand.
"You haven't guessed yet? Well, you have to swear that you won't tell a soul, especially the teachers about what I'm going to tell you." James told her seriously.
"I promise." Lily said simply as she continued to clean the cuts. She was trying her best not to gape at James's bare chest. All she could think of at the moment was that Quidditch did a body good.
"Alright," James said, not noticing how red Lily's cheeks were. "As you might have realized, Sirius, Peter, and I are Animagi."
"I did manage to catch that fact. I suppose you're unregistered as well. Do you know that that's illegal?" Lily asked, putting down the now red handkerchief.
"We did it so that we could keep Remus company." James explained.
"Was he the werewolf?" Lily asked quietly.
"Yes. You shouldn't blame him for what happened tonight, by the way. He doesn't have control over it." James told her.
"I know. But I still can't get over the fact that Remus is a werewolf. I mean, I had my suspicions to where he went every month but I never thought…" Lily trailed off. She shook her head then reached into the kit and brought out a can of ointment.
"This will sting a bit." She said, as she slathered the substance on James cuts.
"Aaargh!" James cried through gritted teeth.
"Don't be such a baby, James." She teased. "It's just an anti-bacterial salve."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one feeling the pain." James muttered. But the truth was, it wasn't all that painful anymore. The feel of Lily's hand on him pretty much drove everything else out of his mind.
Lily finished applying the salve and started bandaging the wounds, winding the gauze around James's chest. James grunted when she tightened it a little too much.
"Sorry about that." Lily apologized, securing the bandages with some surgical tape. When she was done, she started tending the cuts on James's arms.
"Thanks for doing this. You didn't have to, you know." James said, his voice slightly hoarse.
"It was the least I could do. After all, you did save my life." Lily said, not meeting James's eyes. She had started blushing again.
James noticed this and smiled. This was the first time that he had made her blush. Instead of feeling smug about it though (as he would have normally), he felt nervous for some reason. Maybe he was following Granger's advice too much; he was starting to do it unconsciously. His heart was thumping so hard that his chest felt constricted.
Lily looked up and locked eyes with James. The other day she had been feeling miserable, mainly because the boy she liked obviously didn't like her back. But now, she felt… different; as though she had run around the Quidditch field. The way James looked at her… she couldn't explain it. It made her feel special somehow. And it felt good.
James cleared his throat, but didn't take his eyes off Lily. "I don't know if this is the right time to ask this, but, are you still joining me on that date in Hogsmeade?" he said, wondering why his voice had gone all croaky all of the sudden.
Lily didn't need to think about it. "I'm still available." She said, trying to sound indifferent, but failing miserably.
"So is that a yes?" James prodded.
"Yes."
James started to say something else but was interrupted when the portrait hole opened. Sirius took off the Invisibility Cloak and ran a hand through his hair. Peter just stood there awkwardly. It was then that Sirius noticed something odd going on between James and Lily.
"Are we interrupting?" Sirius asked innocently, a sly grin on his face.
"Of course not, Padfoot. Lily was just tending my cuts." James said.
"I think I'll go to bed now." Lily said hastily, packing up her first-aid kit and getting up. "Good night, boys."
"Night!" Sirius and Peter said together. James gave her another intense look.
"Good night, Lily." He said finally.
Lily looked at him one more time then headed up to her dormitory.
A/N: This is my longest chapter yet so it took me a while to update. Sorry.